CJLB608 Speculative Fiction

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Tereza Dědinová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Luisa Nováková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Zbyněk Fišer, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Veronika Bromová, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 100 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/100, only registered: 0/100, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/100
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 22 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The lecture series will focus on the reflection of globally urgent issues in speculative literature, encompassing genres such as science fiction, fantasy, as well as their derivatives, hybrid, and related genres like dystopia, climate fiction, alternate history, Afrofuturism, hopepunk, magical realism, and many others.
Speculative fiction, in its diverse forms, critically examines contemporary social, political, and economic models and considers their alternatives. Through narratives set in futuristic, alternative, or entirely fantastical fictional worlds, it explores possible relationships between humanity and nature, the individual and society, assesses the impacts of technological advancement and the rise of artificial intelligence, and contemplates questions of human identity and spirituality in a changing world. Contemporary speculative fiction not only reflects but also, to some extent, co-creates the trajectory of human society.
In this course, we will focus on how speculative literature addresses and illuminates current societal issues, encouraging readers to engage in deeper consideration of these topics.
We will examine works by J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Ursula K. Le Guin, Susanna Clarke, N. K. Jemisin, Terry Pratchett, Johanna Sinisalo, Kim Stanley Robinson, and other authors.
Analyses of literary works, based on individual themes, will be supported by insights from the fields of the theory and development of speculative fiction, second-generation cognitive science, transhumanism and posthumanism concepts, ecocriticism, postcolonialism, feminism, and gender studies.
Learning outcomes
Upon completing the course, students will be able to:
Reflect on the role of speculative literature within artistic creation;
Analyze the reflection of current issues in speculative fiction;
Interpret texts of speculative literature;
Navigate both classical and contemporary speculative literature and its subgenres;
Additionally, they will be able to actively seek out further relevant primary and theoretical literature and will have an overview of the expanding opportunities for the study of speculative literature.
Syllabus
  • Speculative Literature as a Specific Reflection of Reality (Mimetic vs. Speculative Fiction)
  • Initiation and Personality Development, the Evolution of Literary Characters, Not Limited to Childhood-to-Adulthood Initiation
  • The Role of History and Folklore in Speculative Fiction
  • Magical Realism and Finnish Weird
  • Feminist and Gender Dimensions of Speculative Fiction
  • Transhumanism and Posthumanism in Speculative Literature
  • Satirical Reflection of Serious Themes in Fantasy
  • Aspects of Myth, Spirituality, and Religion as Possible Constitutive Elements of Speculative Literature
  • The Environmental Dimension of Speculative Fiction
  • Afrofuturism and Hopepunk
Literature
    recommended literature
  • TREXLER, Adam (2015). Anthropocene Fictions: The Novel in a Time of Climate Change. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
  • ATTEBERY, Brian. Fantasy : how it works. First edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022, 198 stran. ISBN 9780192856234. info
  • Fantasy and myth in the Anthropocene : imagining futures and dreaming hope in literature and media. Edited by Marek Oziewicz - Brian Attebery - Tereza Dědinová. First published. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, 1 online. ISBN 9781350203358. URL info
  • HOGAN, Patrick Colm. Literature and emotion. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018, 209 stran. ISBN 9781138185203. info
  • Bodily naturesscience, environment, and the material self. Edited by Stacy Alaimo. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010, 193 p. ISBN 9780253222404. info
  • ATTEBERY, Brian. Strategies of fantasy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992, xiv, 152. ISBN 0253310709. info
    not specified
  • HOGAN, Patrick Colm. Affective narratology : the emotional structure of stories. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011, ix, 293. ISBN 9780803230026. info
  • OZIEWICZ, Marek. One earth, one people : the mythopoeic fantasy series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L'Engle and Orson Scott Card. Edited by Brian Attebery. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2008, vii, 263. ISBN 9780786431359. info
  • ALAIMO, Stacy. Undomesticated ground : recasting nature as feminist space. 1st pub. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000, x, 225. ISBN 0801486432. info
Teaching methods
Lectures, class discussion
Assessment methods
Seminar paper
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught only once.
The course is taught: every week.
General note: Předmět bude otevřen a vyučován při minimálním počtu 6 zapsaných studujících.
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